


Common Ground

by Merfilly



Category: Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Community: tf_rare_pairing, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Pre-Relationship, Rare Pairing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-30
Updated: 2012-07-30
Packaged: 2017-11-11 01:18:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/472858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thundercracker was nearly killed by the one mech dearest to him. Sideswipe did lose his dearest mech. Can they pull themselves together?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Common Ground

**Author's Note:**

> Non canon-compliant. Inspired by IDW comics' storylines.

"They think you're dead, at least for now."

Those words were met with little more than a ping of awareness, before Bumblebee shook his head and moved on. Why had he thought that recruiting a high-ranking Decepticon, even one who had turned hero at the last moment, was a good idea?

He had to sidestep as another troubled mech came his way, one that made Bumblebee's spark lurch with so much pain. Would the red half of the twins truly survive? The medical and engineering team were quietly laying odds on how long it would be before they had to do a processor adjustment... or just let him go down in a blaze of glory. As it was, Bumblebee certainly didn't know how to cut through Sideswipe's miasma of grief.

Maybe he ought to warn the Lambo that someone else was in that rec room? He turned to do so, but... a tug on his processor and spark alike told him that maybe, just maybe, the pair should meet and let their emotions collide.

`~`~`~`~`

Sideswipe wasn't oblivious to everything. A Decepticon living among them was something he'd raged at on instinct, especially one of those jets... until he saw the tinge of gray that had dulled Thundercracker's colors. He watched those optics do no more than track the vid screens, never looking anywhere that actually might have an impact on his personal safety.

He'd been the one to back off the bullies who came looking for retribution, almost by accident. One look at the combative group trying to bolster each other's nerves and Sideswipe had glared balefully. Let them think it was for his own grieving that he wanted peace in here.

It wasn't like Sideswipe wanted to admit he and the slagging enemy had anything in common.

`~`~`~`~`

Thundercracker knew the red fighter had been in this rec room far more than any other mech dared to be. He just didn't care at first.

Then he realized the yellow one never came in here. The one that had caused them so much grief with this strangely quiet Sideswipe's help was never present.

He glanced over, seeing how dark the red was, as if burnished... or affected by emotional storms in his base coding. The chromatinanites were always so sensitive, as his own colors were proving, now that he could be aware of it.

His optics dulled, thinking again of Skywarp, of those words, of the ….

"You lost your brother?" he asked, gruffly, forcing himself out of that feedback loop. He had survived. He had to do more than that, though. Thundercracker was not one to back down from his choices... and neither was Skywarp. They would meet again, and then, maybe, Thundercracker would truly fall, for he could not kill half of his own existence.

Sideswipe nodded, crossing his arms in front of him. "What about you?"

Could he admit it out loud? Thundercracker wasn't certain that didn't give it more power or less, to admit what happened.

"I chose honor," Thundercracker said at last. "Others did not understand."

Their optics met for a long moment before Sideswipe uncrossed his arms and flicked a hand at the vid screens. "Humans say those rot your processors."

Thundercracker caught the slight break in saying the local sentient species name, but Sideswipe pushed on.

"Maybe honor is a better choice than either of us can see right now. Maybe there's still things we're supposed to do. But this room... it's getting stifling."

Thundercracker opened his mouth, shut it once, then nodded. "I'm not sure how to actually figure out the next step."

"Figured. Also figured we got more in common right now than just being good at aerial combat, so … work on it with me? Whatever it is we've got left?" Sideswipe's offer seemed sincere, maybe a bit forced, but mostly raw with a shared sense of loss that pinged all of Thundercracker's needs for company, without overwhelming at his own losses.

"I think I can work with that," Thundercracker agreed.


End file.
